Welcome to Starforged

Starforged is an upcoming tabletop roleplaying game system that can be played either with a game master or without one, and it supports solo play. It was created by the same developer that did Ironsworn, and it crossed my radar as a mostly-polished ttrpg set in a distant future (which is my jam).

So, I decided to give the system a go and try its solo play features (and oracles).

Link to the Starforged website for anyone interested in checking out the system: https://www.ironswornrpg.com/product-ironsworn-starforged

Some basics

Starforged carries on some of the traditions of Ironsworn, so there were a few underlying assumptions that I didn't totally get at first. Ultimately, both games are about a people dispossessed and their strength of will to survive against nearly insurmountable odds. In the case of Ironsworn, they arrive in a new land, and in Starforged, they're the descendants of refugees from another star system (possibly Earth). The system focuses on this, as well as discoveries and bonds.

The Starforged are survivors whose honor is measured by their iron vows, which elevate some of these survivors from mere mortals into unstoppable heroes. They do not break easily.

Let's talk about truths!

Starforged allows players to create a pretty dynamic and custom-tailored setting through truths, which represent various aspects of the world which your characters will inhabit. In total, there are fourteen of them, ranging from war to religion to magic, and they serve mostly to sketch the broad strokes of the universe. It's still up to the player to flesh out the nitty-gritty details.

Here are my truths in the order they're presented in the rule book. As I go, I'll add notes where applicable to explain my thinking.

01. Cataclysm

We escaped the ravages of a catastrophic war.

Over millennia, we consumed resources and shattered lives as we fueled the engines of industry, expansion, and war. In the end, a powerful foe took advantage of our rivalries in a violent bid for power. Fleeing the devastation, we assembled our fleets and traveled to the Forge. A new home. A fresh start.

In this final war, we were set upon by religious zealots who saw no use for those who were weak and destitute.

02. Exodus

When the Exodus fleet set off on a ponderous journey to a new home outside our galaxy, they marked the Forge as their destination. Countless generations lived out their lives aboard those titanic ships during the millennia-long passage.

The refugees built a rich legacy of culture and tradition during the Exodus. Some even remained in the ships after their arrival in the Forge, unwilling or unable to leave their familiar confines. Those vessels, the Ironhomes, still sail the depths of this galaxy. They have yet to leave the Terminus, and to some, they're a welcome sanctuary from the troubles of the planets we inhabit.

Here I added the last sentence to give the Ironhomes more significance and to make them a viable destination. Running from the law? Want to hide from bounty hunters? You may find a measure of safety among the Ironhomes.

03. Communities

Dangers abound, but there is safety in numbers. Many ships and settlements are united under the banner of one of the Founder Clans.

We have a tentative foothold in this galaxy. Each of the five Founder Clans honors the name and legacy of a leader who guided their people in the chaotic time after the Exodus. Vast reaches of the settled domains are claimed by the clans, and territorial skirmishes are common.

04. Iron

Iron vows are sworn upon totems crafted from the enigmatic metal we call black iron.

Black iron was first forged by a long-dead civilization. Some say it is a living metal, attuned to the hidden depths of the universe. Remnants of this prized resource are found within ancient sites throughout the Forge. It is resistant to damage and corrosion but can be molded using superheated plasma at specialized facilities. The Ironsworn carry weapons, armor, or tokens crafted from black iron, and swear vows upon it.

In the vein of Ironsworn, iron carries significance and has meaning to the story. I ended up giving my character a black iron dagger to help emphasize that.

05. Laws

Much of the settled domains are a lawless frontier. Criminal factions and corrupt leaders often hold sway.

Powers rise and fall in the Forge, so any authority is fleeting. In the end, we must fend for ourselves. A few communities are bastions of successful autonomy, but many are corrupted or preyed upon by petty despots, criminals, and raiders.

When I read this truth, I pondered uniformity and ultimately settled on a universe that's lawless but trying to do better.

06. Religion

Our faith is as diverse as our people.

Many have no religion or offer an occasional prayer out of habit. Others pay homage to the gods of our forebears as a way of connecting to their roots. Some idealize the natural order of the universe and see the divine in the gravitational dance of stars or the complex mechanisms of a planetary ecosystem. And many now worship the Primordials—gods of a fallen people who once dwelt within the Forge.

I didn't want to include religion for personal reasons, but I decided ultimately that I wanted a setting where it existed so as to create a richer universe. That said, you might notice that none of my characters express much in the way of religion.

07. Magic

Supernatural powers are wielded by those rare people we call paragons.

While not magic in the truest sense, the abilities of the paragons are as close to magic as we can conjure.

These powers are born of genetic engineering and nanotechnology. Yet it's easier to understand "magic" than to accept sufficiently advanced technological advances.

I decided on magic as a very complicated technology from the Old World, poorly understood and improperly used.

08. Communication and Data

In settled domains, a network of data hubs called the Weave/Feed allows near-instantaneous communication and data-sharing between ships and outposts.

Because of their importance, Weave/Feed hubs are often targets for sabotage, and communication blackouts are not uncommon. Beyond the most populous sectors, travelers and outposts are still commonly isolated and entirely off the grid.

Using ansible technology, the Feed extends across all of the Forge, but it is not always as it seems.

I wanted to add in instantaneous communication to make the world feel more future-tech and thus borrowed from other works of fiction. I liked the idea of the Weave and expanded it. I also renamed it to the "Feed" but not until after I'd written a few sessions, so there might be some discrepancy at the beginning.

09. Medicine

Orders of sworn healers preserve our medical knowledge and train new generations of caregivers.

Life-saving advanced care is available within larger communities throughout the settled sectors of the Forge. Even remote communities are often served by a novice healer or can request help from a healer's guild in an emergency.

I wanted to make a heavily augmented character and that warranted having a high level of medicine, so here we are. After I fleshed this out a little bit, I settled on "extremely advanced medicine" but none of the ethics.

10. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial consciousness emerged in the time before the Exodus, and sentient machines live with us here in the Forge.

Our ships, digital assistants, bots, and other systems often house advanced AI. For a lone traveler, machine intelligence can provide companionship and aid within the perilous depths of the Forge.

In this particular setting, when I got to this option it made sense to me to have thinking machines, and it harkened back to books like Dune. I also wanted to create some AI characters in my story.

11. War

Professional soldiers defend or expand the holdings of those who are able to pay. The rest of us are on our own.

Mercenary guilds wield power in the Forge. Some are scrappy outfits of no more than a dozen soldiers. Others are sector spanning enterprises deploying legions of skilled fighting forces and fleets of powerful starships. Most hold no loyalty except to the highest bidder.

12. Lifeforms

This is a perilous and often inhospitable galaxy, but life finds a way.

Life in the Forge is diverse. Planets are often home to a vast array of creatures, and our starships cruise with spaceborne lifeforms riding their wake. Even animals from our homeworld—carried aboard the Exodus ships—have adapted to live with us in the Forge. And yet, change is inevitable, and somehow even those creatures from our homeworld scarcely resemble their original forms.

I leaned into the idea that life must change, and I figured this would give me a lot of creative freedom about the lifeforms of the Forge.

13. Precursors

Over eons, a vast number of civilizations rose and fell within the Forge. Today, the folk we call grubs—scavenger crews and audacious explorers—delve into the mysterious monuments and ruins of those ancient beings.

Incomprehensible technologies, inexorable time, and the strange energies of the Forge have corrupted the vaults of the precursors. Despite the perils, grubs scour those places for useful resources and discoveries. But some secrets are best left buried, and many have been lost to the forsaken depths of the vaults.

I like the idea of long-dead species and coming across their vaults, and I wanted to play with the trope of dangerous alien artifacts.

14. Horrors

Put enough alcohol in a spacer, and they’ll tell you stories of ghost ships crewed by vengeful undead. It’s nonsense.

Within the Forge, space and time are as mutable and unstable as a flooding river. When reality can't be trusted, we are bound to encounter unsettling phenomenon.

I kept this truth, but I'm not a fan of the horror genre so I don't expect this will be used very much.

And that's it, these are the truths that underpin the world, in their broadest form. I'll talk more about them later as they come into play. In the next post, I'm going to introduce my character and get this party started.

Something else I wanted to add is that I write by the seat of my pants, so watch these things evolve as we go along.